Monday, 31 October 2011

The Wildlife | Glass Lizard | Glass Lizard are found in the Old and New Worlds, ranging in areas of Indonesia, southern Asia, the Near East, southeastern Europe, North Africa, and North America. The European and American legless lizards are in the family Anguidae, Anniellidae, and Xenosauridae; the Australasian ones in the family Pygopodidae. Some of the Anguidae legless lizards are called lateral fold lizards due to the pronounced lateral fold that runs down each side. Other genuses, such as the Gerrhonotus and Elgaria, are Glass Lizard.

The Glass Lizard can get up to 1.2 m (4′) in length although two-thirds of this length is their tail. In previous reptile Wild Facts we have discussed that one of the main defense mechanisms for some lizards is to drop off part of their tail. The Glass Lizard is no exception and has the ability to easily break off sections of their long tail. This is actually how they get their name. Get it? Both glass and these lizards break easily? This is actually a pretty clever naming convention, for once. The coolest thing about this is the fact that the portion of the tail that breaks off remains mobile while the rest of the lizard stays motionless. Obviously this distracts the predator and allows the Glass Lizard to make an escape when the time is right. Unfortunately this cool defense mechanism requires a lot of energy to regenerate a new tail so it will often be smaller. I guess this is a good way to tell how often the Glass Lizard had to drop off its tail.

Glass lizards are very common in coastal dune habitats and are sometimes even found beneath debris at the tide line. Glass Lizards are diurnal, meaning that they are awake during the day. Glass lizards earned their name by their propensity to "shatter" by breaking their tail, often in several pieces. The common belief that these pieces can rejoin is a myth, although they tail will slowly regrow over a period of months or years.

The Wildlife | Goat | Goats are fun because they all have different personalities and have different little habits that can be amusing or interesting. Goats are very affectionate and especially during the summer, when they are too hot to be active, they like to just hang around people and get a good scratch. Most goats' favorite scratchy spot is around their shoulder but some even liked to be scratched in between their toes. It is very rewarding to see a goat you have raised from a baby grow up and have kids and grandkids of her own. With goats that doesn't have too take too long, maybe about 3 or 4 years at most, because they are able to breed when they are just a year old. It's also neat to learn how to milk or trim hooves and other things that you wouldn't ordinarily be able to do.

Female goats are called does. Male goats are called bucks. We primarily raise does because they are easier to manage, they don't have an offensive odor (unlike bucks), and there are more shows for does. A male goat that has been neutered is known as a wether. We usually don't keep dairy goat wethers, but some kids raise and show pygmy wethers. Other domesticated goats include Boer goats that are starting to be raised for meat, Cashmere goats that are raised for cashmere and Nigerian Dwarf goats. Domesticated goats differ from wild goats such as Mountain goats.

Goats are typically found in more barren landscapes and many species of goat tend to prefer mountainous and rocky terrains. The goats that inhabit the mountainous cliff faces are amazingly agile and are able to hold their hold well on small ledges and are very adept at jumping and running around on them. The goat is natural prey to many predators which include leopards, tigers, large reptiles and most commonly humans. Today the goat is also found in parts of South America where the goats are farmed and hunted for their meat and skins.

The goat is most closely related to the sheep and there are many similarities between the two species as well as a number of differences which include the tail length of the goat which is noticeably longer than the tail of the sheep.

The Wildlife | Golden Oriole | The powerful fluting whistle of a Eurasian Golden Oriole can be heard in forests and lowland wooded areas near to rivers as this is their favourite habitat. Considering the males bright tropical coloring they can be incredibly hard to see when perched in the trees as they meld in with the lights and shadows of the leaves, they are shy and agile with an undulating flight. Similar to a thrush in size and form but the male has a bright yellow body with contrasting black wings and tail. There is a black mark between eye and beak (lore) and a yellow mark on the wing, the bill is reddish. The females and juveniles are more similar in colouring to a green woodpecker with an olive green back and off-white breast with fine streaks and an overall more pale appearance.

They arrive in Iberia in mid April from their wintering grounds in tropical Africa and if the weather is warm and dry they chase each other noisily through the trees with great agility. As well as the beautiful song they also have a very tuneless squawk. Orioles are most visible and audible in the early mornings, becoming quieter through the heat of the day. Their return migrational journey is mid August through into September. Insects and berries make up their diet and they have a strong liking for figs for which they are prepared to come out of the tree canopy and warily feed close to habitation. Otherwise they choose areas of very tall trees in which to perch and their nests are also set high in a fork within the canopy. We have noted that the males will pursue passing Sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) from their territory chastising them constantly.

Male Golden Orioles are spectacularly colourful but if it wasn't for their distinctive far-carrying songs they could easily be overlooked. The adult male is unmistakably, startlingly yellow apart from jet black wings and tail and a blood red beak. The female is greener and streaked below, distinctive enough when seen perched, but having similar colours to a Green Woodpecker in flight. The oriole though is smaller with blacker more pointed wings and yellow corners to the tail.

Saturday, 29 October 2011

The Wildlife | Gorilla | Many geese can live to be 20-25 years old. If you get a goose, be prepared to have it around for quite a while! Actually, be prepared to have a couple of them around for quite a while, as geese by nature hang around in groups and need companionship. If you don't want a breeding pair, it's a good idea to get a couple of females, as males may fight. We just happened to get lucky and the two males we had got along very well.

A goose is a medium to large sized bird found in Europe, Asia and North America. There are around 29 known species of geese around the world including Canadian geese and Snowy geese. Geese mate and build their nests in order to raise their baby geese (known as goslings) in the north during the warmer summer months and the geese then migrate south in the winter to the warmer climates when the baby geese are strong enough to fly.

Geese are known to have extremely strong wings as they migrate long distances every year to the warmer climates. Due to the fact that the wingspan of a goose is so large (normally one and half times the size of the goose's body), and the wings of the goose are so strong, a goose is known to be able to inflict severe damage to humans should it become threatened or annoyed! Not only do geese flap their wings to intimidate unwanted company, but they are also known to make a loud hissing noise. If these methods of defence fail, it is not uncommon for a goose to simply charge at the intruder hissing and flapping it's wings all at the same time.

The Wildlife | Gopher | The gopher towns can stretch for vast distances through mountainous terrain and often contain thousands of gopher residents. The adult gophers tend to situate themselves at the front of the gopher town and whistle to the others when the adult gophers spot potential predators or sense nearing danger. Gophers are small animals, usually around 15cm in length and a quarter of a kilogram in weight this however is slightly dependent on the species of gopher.

Gophers are omnivorous animals with the diet of the gopher being predominantly comprised of nuts, seeds and berries along with grass, grains and insects which is where the gopher gets the majority of its protein from. The gopher however, has a number of natural predators mainly because of the size and abundance of the gopher in certain areas. The natural predators of the gopher include large birds, badgers and coyotes and of course, the human, who is known to kill the gopher as an agricultural pest.

There are two main species of gopher, the pocket gopher and the Richardsons ground squirrel, both of these species of gopher are found in North America. The gopher is a small squirrel-like rodent which lives in burrows underground. The gopher digs large networks of tunnels and subterranean chambers which are referred to as gopher towns. These gopher towns contain an extensive network of tunnels that often result in the disruption of agriculture and landscapes.

Thursday, 27 October 2011

The Wildlife | Gorilla | Gorillas can be found in forest habitats in Congo, Gabon and African countries. They are also found in the Virunga Volcanoes and in the Bwindi area. Some are in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Westwards to Kasese. There is no accurate estimate of how many wild gorillas there are. But over the years surveys have established that are about 100,000 individual western lowland Gorillas in the Gabon and Congo region. Recent reports state that the number of gorillas has declined over the years do to bushmeat operations.

In the Nigeria-Cameroon region recent estimates suggest that only 150-200 remain from the 1,500 that once existed. Estimates in the 1990's suggest that fewer than 350 mountain gorillas exist in the Virunga Volcanoes and fewer than 300 in the Bwindi area. Gorillas are vegetarians, who eat roots, fruits, shoots, leaves, termites, bark, and pith. Due to their size gorillas need large amounts of food. During the dry season they eat more herbs and bark. Due to their diet of fruit, and leaves containing due in the morning, gorillas require no further source of water.

Primates, in general, are very social animals, and mountain gorillas are no exception. They live in small family groups consisting of varying numbers of males, females, infants, and juveniles. Each group is led by a dominant male gorilla. The dominant silverback protects his group and leads in the search for food. In most monkey populations, the females stay with their family, while the males leave their groups at adolescence. In effect, mothers, daughters, sisters, and grandmothers stay together in family groups. A different social structure emerges among gorillas--females leave their family and join other groups.

The Wildlife | Great White Shark | Great White Sharks are the world's largest predatory fish, reaching over 6 metres (20 feet) in length. Armed with a lethal mouthful of serrated, razor-sharp daggers and powerful enough to launch their 1-ton bodies clear of the water, they are the ocean's top predator and are the most feared inhabitant of the sea. When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Baby sharks are on their own right from the start, and their mother may see them only as prey. At birth the baby shark is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long already; as it grows it may reach a length three times that.

The Great White Shark has many awesome features, and it is truly an amazing animal. The scientific name for the Great White is Carcharodon Carcharias. The Great White reaches maturity at around 9 years of age. The average size of The Great White Shark is between 12 to 16 feet long. The growth rate is about 25-30 cm per year and it can grow up to 21 feet. The Great White Shark has litters of 7-9 pups. The female may only reproduce twice in her whole life.

The Wildlife | Grasshopper | There are hundreds of species of grasshoppers in North America, but only a few that cause damage to crops and rangeland. Some of the species that cause damage are the clear-winged, the migratory, the two-striped, the packard, the differential, and the redlegged grasshoppers.

Eco Bran is a grasshopper control product that uses wheat bran infused with carbaryl. We have reduced the percentage of chemical used in liquid applications by up to 98% by weight. An environmentally responsible grasshopper control that is a non-contact product that must be ingested. This reduces the eradication of non-chewing insects and birds. Eco Bran can also be used for the control of locusts and Mormon crickets. For more details Click Here

Grasshoppers belong to the order Orthoptera. Longhorned grasshoppers make up the family Tettigoniidae. The Mormon cricket is classified as Anabrus simplex. Pygmy grasshoppers make up the family Tetrigidae. Shorthorned grasshoppers make up the family Acrididae. The American grasshopper is classified as Schistocerca americana.

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